Will Poulter Joins ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’
Variety.com: One of Marvel’s most powerful superheroes is finally joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Will Poulter (“Midsommar”) has landed the role of Adam Warlock in “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,” which writer-director James Gunn is set to start shooting later this year.
“Welcome to the Guardians family, Will Poulter,” Gunn posted to Twitter on Monday. “He’s an amazing actor and wonderful guy. See you in a couple weeks.”
The British-born Poulter made his feature debuts in 2007’s “Son of Rambow” and 2010’s “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.” Most audiences, however, likely first remember him as the awkward teenage kid in 2013’s “We’re the Millers” who is bitten on his testicles by a tarantula. Poulter has also played standout roles in “The Maze Runner” franchise and 2015’s “The Revenant,” and he can currently be seen in the limited series “Dopesick” on Hulu.
Gunn teased the introduction of Adam Warlock in one of the mid-credits teasers in 2017’s “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2,” after Ayesha (Elizabeth Debicki), leader of the Sovereign people, creates a being she names “Adam,” with the purpose of destroying the Guardians of the Galaxy.
The character was first introduced in the late 1960s/early 1970s, created in a specialized cocoon to be, effectively, the perfect human. His powers — flight, super-strength, regeneration, energy manipulation — are comprehensive and rival the most powerful Marvel characters ever created.
Much of Adam Warlock’s comic book history was tied up with the Infinity Gems (called Infinity Stones in the MCU), especially the Soul Gem — but given the events of “Avengers: Endgame,” it’s unclear how much they would factor into “Guardians Vol. 3.” Another popular comic book storyline involves Adam Warlock’s transformation into the Magus, an insane and dangerously powerful creature — which brought the Guardians of the Galaxy into the orbit of Kang the Conqueror, one of the newly established Big Bads of the MCU (as played by Jonathan Majors).
Whatever Gunn’s current plans are to incorporate Warlock into the MCU, the filmmaker has said that he originally wanted to introduce the character in “Guardians Vol. 2,” but ultimately elected to defer the debut to “Vol. 3.” The full “Guardians” cast are expected to return for their third outing, including Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, Bradley Cooper (as the voice of Rocket) and Vin Diesel (as the voice of Groot).
“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” is scheduled to debut on May 5, 2023.
Deadline first reported the news of Poulter’s casting.